Spalsh Landings Hotel, Alton Towers (Splash Landings Hotel (Alton Towers))

Member Name: laukez

Product:	Splash Landings Hotel (Alton Towers)
Date:	25/08/09 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Early ride times and decent rooms

Disadvantages: Food served in hotel not good enough

I've stayed at the Splash Landings Hotel in the Alton Towers park a couple of times now, and each time have had an enjoyable stay. The hotel is not without some flaws but overall my experiences have been good.

Firstly I will say I get the rooms in the hotel cheap through my staff discount, and pay £80 a night for 2 people to go bed and breakfast. This is good value to me as the convenience of being near the park and the early ride time makes it well worth the money. However, I'm not sure I would ever pay the full rather extotionate rate they charge without the discount, which is over £200 per room per night.

So, the hotel itself. First impressions were good - the reception area is massive and the Caribbean theme is fun. The check-in service is efficient and although there is often a queue I didn't wait long. The staff are well-informed and answered my questions well. The only criticism I will make is that the hotel does have a pervading smell of chlorine from the waterpark, but the view into the waterpark from the hotel is cool.

The rooms are, I would say, adequate. The beds are reasonably comfortable, the bathroom well equipped and they are decently clean. They are more than good enough as a place to sleep and with so much to do in the hotel that is essentially what they are. We had a view out onto the monorail station which was not particularly exciting but fine. The rooms are fairly quiet considering this is such a family based hotel.

After a visit to the waterpark we decided to go for our evening meal in the Alton Towers Hotel's restaurant The Secret Garden. The price of the buffet meal at Flambo's in the Splash Landings Hotel put us off. However we regretted our decision on seeing the limited menu and prices charged in the restaurant. There wasn't a lot of choice so I went for a burger and my boyfriend had a chicken dish. Both arrived cold, and the burger was chewy and tough. The portions were also on the stingy side. I think the food must be pre-cooked rather than done to order, and the quality suffered. Also, despite repeatedly asking our drinks didn't arrive until we had nearly finished our main course. Not quite good enough.

Breakfast the next morning was also a fairly unsatifactory experience. The choice of food was O.K but the execution wasn't great as the cooked breakfast was too greasy and slimy. I tried a little bit but ended up having cereal and fruit which was much better.

Overall my experience of the hotel was decent, and my only complaints come from the food served in the hotel which was not up to scratch for the prices paid. But it was a good place to rest our heads before going into the park the next day and was worth staying there for the early ride time which meant we went straight onto Oblivion with no queues - a real baptism of fire for the day!

Summary: Stay here at reduced rates but go elsewhere to eat!